Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-05-29
values and Returns.

vnfueS ana 6etuEuss
We cannot dwell too strongly or
too often on the demonstrable fact
that the high value of lands in this |
section is consistent with the value |
of their productions. Our good
friends in the northern part of the |
State are greatly mistaken when they |
try to make it appear that our land
values are speculative, fictitious and
not justified by what can be legiti-
mately made out of them. We have
repeatedly shown the fallacy OF this
kind of criticism. The value of pro-
dace OF all kinds shipped from Los
Angeles county last year was be-
tween seven and eight million dollars.
An orange grove in bearing will
yield an income of from $3.50 to 5000
Der acre per annum. 1t is indeed a
very poor orchard that will not net to
its owner 800 per acre every year.
This would be an interest of ten per
cent. per annum upon $1,000, and
that is the actual value as product
i've investment of even the poorest
orange lands in this county. But
our choicest orange lands are not
held nearly as high as the maximum
yield per acre from them would JUS
tify. Our vineyards are proportion
ately profitable. Hundreds of vign-
erons in this vicinity realize from
$125 to 5000 per acre from their crops.
Yet lands we'll suited to this kind OF
culture are sold every day for from
5000 to $500 an acre-a figure far be-
low their just value when we con-
slider their yielding capacity. The
same argument will apply to our
lands planted in English walnuts, in
apricots, peaches and other fruits. Ger
tainly the corn lands OF Los Nietos val
ley that yield one hundredcentals per
acre, with a supplemental crop OF
pumpkins or watermelons or other
products, are as valuable as vine
lands, and yet we have never heard
OF these lands selling at prices COM
mensurate with the value of their
yield. II the lands OF Los Angeles were
placed upon the market at prices
rated according to the relation which
the value OF their products bears to
the interest on money, but very few
OF our broad acres would go for less
than $500 each, and great number
OF them would be worth from $1,000 to
$4,000. We know that these
figures look enormous to people who
have been in the habit OF
thinking that they were get
ting high prices for their lands when
selling them at from $75 to 800 per
acre, which are maximum prices for
lands in the northern belt; but they
should consider the great difference
in the yielding capacity OF the two
classes of lands. The farmer in the
latter belt who realizes $40 or $25 per
acre net from his crops, is we'll satis-
fed, and when he sells his land at $75
an acre. he is getting all it is worth.
But if he were realizing from $l20 to
$500 an acre from his lands he would
not consider their value over-priced
ii they we're sold for from $500 to
$1,000 an acre. Then, again, there is
another factor which cannot be
ignored when we come to consider
the value OF lands in this section.
There has been great deal of cheap
wit expended about our people SELL
ing their lands at so much
per acre and the climate at
so much more. But the fact is our
matchless climate cuts very i'm
portant figure in the fixing of land
values. 1t would go for nothing that
we had the choicest aud the richest
soil in the universe ii there went with
IL an uncomfortable and unwholesome
climate. They both go together, and
one is complement OF the other as
far as the fixing of values is con-
cerned. Having both soil of unap-
proachable richness and a climate of
unapproachable serenity and salubri-
ty, we naturally possess combina-
tion of values that will be avidly
sought for. Hence it is not fair to
merely estimate the value Of our lands
by their capacity for returns; but we
should add a very large percentage
for the matchless climate that goes
with them. The day is not far dis
tant when our lands will be sold
openly on this principle of eomputa-
ton, and it viii be a fair and jrst one.